A Joyful Existence

In a nutshell...

I have three beautiful children, Mikaela ~ 13 years, Joshua ~ 6 years... and Benjamin is 4 years old. I am married to {the Accountant}, Nathan... he is a wonderful father and step-father & my best friend. I am a Career Mumma, Quilter & Crafter, Mixed Media Artist, Scrapbooker, and Photographer. Creative of all kinds. I am a Marathon Runner in Training (with some injury & false starts)... My LOVES: cooking with my Thermomix, Clean eating, quilting, taking photos, coffee {preferably Illy}, lip gloss, going barefoot, my sisters, fab gal pals and the beach. Life is very good. Thanks for visiting. Oh and I love emails and comments, so don't be shy :)

April 2013

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

I was hooked, gone, and I remain seriously addicted... as is the case with me and my pursuits.

Here are the fruits of my labour {many many hours}:

almost finished... just the hand binding to go !

Here we are on our class "graduation" evening:

It is still not entirely finished...

Here are some of the other wonderful works by my class mates, and our fabulous teacher, Wendy Saclier:

Such a lovely teacher is Wendy!

Gail's is the blue one in the centre... isn't it stunning !!! I love it so much, it's simple and elegant, much like Gail herself.

Sadly this was Wendy's last beginner class, I feel very fortunate and lucky to have been one of her last beginner students. I have been assured that Wendy will be back for weekend classes, and she has this Crazy Patchwork one coming up in June that I am keen to go to.

As you can see above, the class project was a nine block quilt... but I really wanted to stretch myself and create a larger project. I drew up a plan which meant that I would need to do 4 blocks of each:

I copied Wendy's plan and cut and glued a modified one

I had to re-do TWO Ohio Stars... so annoying, but I soon learn the term "SCANT 1/4 inch seam"... now I have two small Ohio Star's to make into cushions. Add to my WIP. Look at me all Quilt speak :)

I loved all the different blocks and techniques I learnt in this class, and super happy that I started this way. I made plenty enough mistakes WITH teaching, I dread to imagine how bad I'd be without such expert advice and guidance.

So we covered hand piecing, machine piecing, foundation (LOVE - so easy peasy!), embroidery, Strip piecing. We made our own templates... we created log cabins, Ohio Stars, Carol Doak Design foundation block, Applique (I did hexagons), Pin Wheel and a Monkey Wrench. I did a fair bit of unpicking... and resewing!

During the class I also attended a Kantha stitch class with Wendy... and there came the love for that beautiful hand stitch technique and my decision of how to finish my quilt. I think the same/similar stitch is also referred to as Utility stitch, Sashico stitch, or plain old running stitch... tho each does vary slightly.

I did stitch in the ditch of all the large straight seams, then I kantha stitched all the sashes. A little tip for you: masking tape, yes... that's how to get the lines nice and even and straight, well mostly!

Some details of getting the quilt made

I also tried to use a variety of techniques to finish my quilt.. I did some echo stitching, some freestyle machine quilting and lots of hand stitching. Not all of it I loved... I'm not very good at the freestyle machine quilting technique.

little bits of detail of my first quilt

I also binded it incorrectly by sewing it on to the under side of the quilt. I unpicked it and redid it correctly.

I named the quilt "Prima Donna"... my first quilt, Italian for "first lady"... seemed rather fitting. My designed fabric labels had not yet arrived, so I simply pinned a cardboard version onto the backing, which did the job temporarily... Shhhh it's still there.

And now it is ALMOST entirely finished... and it has pride of place in our family room where the kids snuggle and watch telly:

Josh was sitting here with his brother, typically by the time I grabbed the camera he'd moved!

Our reunion evening was the 9th April. No time to rest... in 3 weeks time was my mother-in-law's 60th birthday... and guess what I decided to make her? yep... come back to see how I went.

This lady has a new obsession... Tanya, come home to Canberra, wont you !!!??! You and your lovely little family will be very happy here :) xx

I have lots of projects on the go and will share them all here soon. ALSO lot's of decorating and general homey stuff I've been up to these past few months, which I also need to blog... not to mention the kiddies. WOWSERS. Later Gaters.

Instagram Lovin

ThermoMix Living...

I love my ThermoMix

Pinterest

My Other Accounts

be real

The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little stardust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.
-Henry David Thoreau-